municate with us. This would open too wide a field for philosophical speculation in an article like the present. Therefore I shall dismiss it, with the remark, that all these varied branches of a subject, full of interest and full of mystery, have been subjected to similar rigid tests and the same accurate investigation as I have endeavoured to describe with regard to apparitions; and that no fraud or imposture has been detected.

I am not prepared by any means to say that all communications obtained through these sources have been frank and truthful. My contention merely goes to this length that the phenomena are genuine, but that their character depends, in great part, on that of the medium, and his or her surroundings.

In the case of manifestations when no medium is present, I cannot offer any explanation. Inconsistency is, in fact, one of the leading characteristics of the manifestations. Thus, when there is reason to anticipate that they will be good, they are often the reverse of satisfactory; while in cases where, owing to the state of the atmosphere, want of sympathy in the circle, or other causes, failure might be expected, there has been a decided success, and even marked progress. Were the intention to deceive, there need be no failures. The professional conjurer and practiser of legerdemain can always produce promised results. Not so with the phenomena called spiritual manifestations. Nothing can be promised; and in the case of apparitions, the medium is the only person who is unconscious of their presence.

Before proceeding to refer to the latest experiments which I am enabled to record, I ought to mention a curious incident

that occurred at one of Miss Cook's séances last winter. On the occasion to which I refer I was sitting close to the cabinet with my ear to the curtain, so that had the medium attempted to disengage her hands or to take off one garment and replace it by another I must have heard her. I only refer to this to meet the objection of persons who say, 'How do you know that the young lady did not get out of her ligatures and array herself in the costume in which you saw the so-called apparition?' My reply is that it was simply impossible for her to make any movement of the kind without my knowledge. The experiment can, however, easily be tried. Let any person get behind a curtain and take off a single garment-much less a whole suit and put on another, and the noise absolutely inseparable from the movement of the body must be audibly heard by any person with his ear at the other side of the curtain. On the occasion I refer to the medium was perfectly motionless, and had been so for a considerable time. The apparition then said, 'Extinguish the light entirely.' This was done. A sweet perfume then became diffused over the room, and a strong light was seen through the crevices of the curtain in the cabinet. The apparition then stepped out, holding in her hand a luminous body about the size of a hen's egg. The reflection from this substance lighted up her face. It repre

sented exactly such a light as might be produced by placing a candle within an alabaster vase. I asked whether I might touch it, and obtained permission. It felt hard and polished something like horn, and, as far as I could judge by touching it with the tips of the fingers of my right hand,

was nearly spherical in form. It remained for about five minutes, and the figure advanced into the room, extending the hand that held the luminous substance, so that those in the circle farthest off might see it. The figure then returned behind the curtain, and the gas was turned on.

Other lights of a different kind have frequently been observed at dark séances with Miss Cook. Previously to one of the latter being held, the young lady got into the cabinet, the doors of which were afterwards locked, although the key was not removed; the light was then extinguished, and in a few minutes afterwards we heard the key turned in the lock, the doors were thrown open, and the young lady was lifted out and almost flung into the middle of the room. She stated that she felt herself lifted up by the shoulders and carried out, but that she saw nothing. The persons present at the time were seated at a table, and held each other's hands, so that nobody could have moved and crossed the floor to the cabinet without the knowledge of the others. No footfall was heard prior to the doors being unlocked, neither was the medium entranced.

On

On the 28th of October I was again invited to be present at a séance at Mr. Luxmoore's, with Miss Cook as the medium. this occasion a well known Fellow of the Royal Society and a chemist of admitted ability formed one of the circle. Miss Cook did not appear to be very well. A few days previously she had cut her finger accidentally, and the maimed digit was strapped up with court plaster. Before she took her seat in the chair, the lamp (shaded somewhat) was placed on a table close to the curtain. Mr. Luxmoore took his usual seat by the sliding

door, having the F.R.S. on his left, and removed but a few feet from where the medium was seated. The apparition came this time wearing a thin white veil reaching down to the waist; no one had ever before seen her similarly arrayed. Having talked for some time on a variety of subjects, she disappeared, and presently we heard her moving the furniture about. She then appeared again, rolling before her in perambulator fashion a heavy chair with a high straight back, that stood in a recess of the back drawing-room. This she pushed into the room, and having fetched a cushion for her feet, sat down amongst us. The F.R.S. watched her very narrowly, as it was his duty to do; and having asked to be allowed to touch her hand, she at once consented, and he held it in his own for a second or two. He then examined the fingers to see whether one of them was cut like that of the medium, but said he was unable to trace any sign of the cut, nor could we see the strapping. Having asked the apparition whether he might come to Miss Cook's séances, she replied, 'Yes, whenever you like, except to developing circles.' Presently she asked for pencil and paper, and having rapidly written an order to admit the applicant, laughingly threw it to him. I then reminded her of the uncomfortable position in which the medium had been placed a few nights before, and asked her what became of her (the apparition) when I entered the room to place Miss Cook in an easier position. The answer she gave me was that she could become invisible and intangible at will.

'Then how long do you take to materialise yourself?' I asked.

That,' she replied, depends upon circumstances sometimes

five minutes, sometimes ten minutes.'

The F.R.S. was, I think, agreeably surprised on this occasion, and appeared gratified at the prospect of investigating the phenomena further.

Another séance of a somewhat similar character was held at Hackney on the 2nd of December. The apparition was, however, observed to be much taller than the medium. She wore a veil as before, and allowed some of the visitors to examine its texture, and also to feel her hands and feet. For this purpose she came out into the centre of the room, and seated herself on a chair close to where Lady S and myself were sitting. Happening to observe that I had been informed that muslin was so plentiful that a celebrated draper in Westbourne Grove was selling it at three farthings a yard, she resented the remark by giving me a sharp blow on the chest. I pleaded that I meant nothing personal in the observation; but she declined to take any notice of my explanation. She did not, however, nurse her wrath, as soon afterwards she gave me a playful pat on the cheek, and examined a gold coin affixed to my watch guard. A repeater carried by Mr. Luxmoore seemed to afford her unbounded amusement. Suddenly she inquired what had become of Miss Cook's watch. Mrs. Cook said it was in a little box in her bedroom, but that it was broken. The apparition then disappeared behind the curtain, but returned in a couple of minutes with the broken watch in her hand.

'I have been to get it,' she said; the box was not locked, although she has two keys for it -but of what use are they? Don't tell her I took her watch, or she will be so angry.'

I then offered her my watch to put in the box in lieu of that of Miss Cook's, but she replied, 'Oh, I can't go back again.' She then handed Miss Cook's watch to Mr. Luxmoore.

The apparition is often questioned as to her condition when in earth life. She states that she died when twenty-one, and that her life was by no means happy. She lived, she said, in part of the reign of Charles the First, through the period of the Commonwealth, and after the Restoration. These, she says, were troublesome times, when there was bloodshed, and civil war prevailed. On one occasion she said that she remembers men with steeple hats, who prayed a great deal, but who were notwithstanding very wicked. This is by no means improbable-men without steeple hats occasionally do the same in our own day.

The possibility of retaining the apparition in a solidified form has been tested. Mr. William Crookes, F.R.S., states that he has grasped a hand with the firm intention of holding it, but that it seemed to dissolve under his pressure. Although I myself have repeatedly touched the hands of Katie' and of other forms, I have never attempted to retain them.

On Tuesday, the 9th of Dec. last (the first day of the memorable fogs), I had, however, some involuntary experience of an attempt to grasp and retain the apparition of Katie King at Mr. Cook's. There was a séance that night, at which the Earl and Countess of Caithness, Count de Pomar, Mr. Luxmoore, Mr. Blackburn of Manchester, myself, and others were present. I was seated between Lady Caithness and Mr. Blackburn, holding a hand of each. The apparition appeared several times and came out into the centre of the room. It was arrayed in a long white dress with a double

skirt, had naked feet, and wore a veil over the head and falling down below the waist. Count de Pomar asked whether he might approach it; and, having obtained permission, left the circle and walked straight up to it. Katie held out her hand, which he took, and subsequently returned to his seat. The apparition then advanced to the portion of the room farthest from the cabinet, when a person, who to me was a perfect stranger, jumped up, caught the figure round the waist and held it, exclaiming, 'It is the medium!' Two or three gentlemen present rushed forward and caught him, and a struggle ensued. I watched the result with considerable interest, and observed that the figure appeared to lose its feet and legs and to elude the grasp, making for that purpose a movement somewhat similar to that of a seal in the water. It eventually disappeared behind the curtain. No particle of the veil was found in the room. The medium was subsequently observed to be tied by the waist and sealed as when we left her; and on being afterwards searched by the ladies of the party (who never lost sight of her) no white garments or veil were discovered. The medium appeared, however, to have sustained a nervous shock, and complained, when first released from the tapes, of a burning sensation in the throat. She was not, she said, aware of anything that had passed. If the object of seizing the figure was to detect imposture and discredit the medium, it signally failed; as, although the person who made the attempt was apparently well able to hold on to anything he might happen to clutch, the apparition glided out of his grip, leaving no trace of corporeal existence, or surroundings in the shape of clothing.

I have not attempted in this paper to describe other occurrences of an inexplicable character which have come under my own observation, with and without test conditions, in the presence of non-professional media, and in the houses

of private friends. I have preferred to dwell upon the manifestations witnessed with the mediumship of Miss Cook, for two reasons. First, because they were invariably conducted under strict test conditions, and in the presence of persons of high intelligence and character, well known for the interest they take in the phenomena; and, secondly, because the apparitions, being visible under the most powerful light, and solid to the touch, must be regarded as developments of an order higher than any previously witnessed at this side of the Atlantic. A third reason for dwelling chiefly upon them is, that I have the permission of Miss Cook and her family to publish their names in connection with the subject.

I cannot, of course, expect that people who have seen nothing of these phenomena can believe the foregoing. I own that I did not myself at first give credit to the representations of the learned in such matters. Their narrations were at right angles with all my preconceived opinions of the fitness of things; although, so far as apparitions were concerned, I was not disposed to doubt their possibility. There is a current of testimony in favour of their existence which it is impossible to deny ; but it was difficult for me to give in to the idea that solid objects could be conveyed, invisibly, through closed doors, or that heavy furniture could be moved without the interposition of hands. Philosophers will say these things are absolutely impossible; nevertheless, it is absolutely certain

that they do occur. Thousands of persons can attest the fact. I have met in the houses of private friends, as witnesses of these phenomena, persons whose testimony would go for a good deal in a court of justice. They have included peers, members of parliament, diplomatists of the highest rank, judges, barristers, physicians, clergymen, members of learned societies, chemists, engineers, journalists, and thinkers of all sorts and degrees. They have suggested, and carried into effect, tests of the most rigid and satisfactory character. The media (all non-professional) have been searched before and after séances. The precaution has even been taken of providing them, unexpectedly, with other apparel. They have been tied; they have been sealed; they have been secured in every cunning and dexterous manner that ingenuity could devise, but no deception has been discovered and no imposture brought to light. Neither was there any motive for imposture. No fee or reward of any kind depended upon the success or non-success of the manifestations.

It would seem, then, that the time has come for directing public opinion to these extraordinary occurrences. There may be, after all, nothing novel in them. They may be as old as the Witch of Endor; but, whether new or antiquated, it is desirable that their existence should be admitted, and that the delusion should be dispelled that the limits of scientific knowledge have been reached.

There are few who are not prepared to concede that every great error has some admixture of truth. Sturdy disbelievers in everything

beyond their own circumscribed ideas of what is possible and what is not, will no doubt treat the subject of modern apparitions with ridicule. To such I would observe that ridicule is not argument. When Lord Brougham and Professor Faraday met Mr. Home at Cox's Hotel, in Jermyn Street, and witnessed some of the earlier phenomena, they did not laugh. All they said was that they could not account for what they saw, and that they were unable to detect any contrivance for imposing upon their credulity. True, Professor Faraday subsequently endeavoured to account for table-turning by what he termed involuntary muscular action;' but that theory has long since been exploded by the fact that tables have not only been turned when no hands have touched them, but that solid objects have been carried through locked doors from one room to another.

The age in which we live is one of remarkable progress. Men little past the prime of life can remember the opening of the first railway. The electric telegraph, the art of photography, and many other wonderful developments of human thought have followed. In these respects history is not repeating itself; but with regard to the phenomena to which I have referred, it may be that pagan sophists have testified to the same facts as Christian martyrs. It may be that to evolution, and not to progress, we are to assign these marvels. In any case, the moment would seem opportune for a strict philosophical investigation of the phenomena considered as psychological facts.

HENRY M. DUNPHY.